It may have a slightly different complexion, but race inequality in Britain is as real today as it was when I joined the Commission for Racial Equality as its chair and chief executive in 1993. We faced challenges then as mountainous as those facing the new Commission For Equality and Human Rights (CEHR) today.

In 1993, the CRE had survived the Thatcher years but was not in good order. The legal budget was overspent, we had stopped supporting individual cases and there was no money to build effective anti-racism awareness campaigns.

Many in the black and minority ethnic communities saw the commission as a useless buffer, created by the state, to prevent an effective civil rights movement emerging to act in the face of rampant racism. Some of the staff were in conflict with each other and with commissioners.

My term of office began immediately after the first signs of Muslim agitation in response to Salman Rushdie's The Satanic Verses a few days into the job Stephen Lawrence was murdered and not long after, a member of the BNP was elected in Tower Hamlets. Michael Howard became home secretary and there was a clear line drawn about what was acceptable politically.

I knew where that line was, but also knew what had to be done within the constraints our powers were limited by legislation and bureaucracy. We had to remind people with unrealistic expectations what we could and could not do.

We had to be creative, bold and fearless not hiding behind the law nor afraid to act in the face of political threats or legal challenge. Many good things were achieved, particularly in education programmes for young people aimed at tackling ignorance, xenophobia and intolerance.

We engaged in many partnerships, the best known being the collaboration with Saatchi and Saatchi which generated around pounds 1m worth of "free" publicity over a three-year period. They got people talking. Our awareness raising campaigns spread into schools, colleges, youth clubs and community work. Another campaign, Kick Racism Out of Football, came about because the football authorities were maintaining there was not a problem, while racial hatred, abuse, harassment and even violence were rampant on the terraces.

We took all legal work back in-house. We supported, on average, over 1,000 cases each year between 1993 and 2000 for the next six years up to 2006, only a total of 335 cases received legal representation. The CRE always had an admirable and effective tradition of using its formal powers to help tackle institutional racism and this continued during my term of office.

We intervened when the top brass were dragging their feet following an investigation into discrimination in the Household Cavalry, spelling out in no uncertain terms what was expected of them and when. Similarly, when the late Bernie Grant MP told me British Airways was photocopying the passports of black people travelling to the USA but not doing the same for white people, I called BA and told them what the consequences would be if they did not deal with this issue immediately.

It only took 15 minutes before they were giving assurances the discrimination would cease and an investigation would follow. We were also privileged to contribute to the campaigning work of Doreen Lawrence and others that led to the statutory duties imposed on public bodies. The then home secretary, Jack Straw, genuinely listened to disaffected voices at grassroots level as well as professional opinion in order to steer through these reforms.

The CRE has hugely influenced the shape of race relations in Britain. However, it has clearly not done enough and, in reality, with its structures and flimsy resources, it was never going to wholly succeed. People are living parallel lives that are not so much about different cultures, communities or ethnic groups, but more about those who have most of the wealth and the control of the resources inhabiting a totally different reality from those who are part of a growing underclass.

Inequality in housing, education, the criminal justice system, immigration and the media is still prevalent. For example: child poverty rates for Indian, Black Caribbean and Bangladeshi children are 32%, 37% and 74% respectively, compared to 25% for white children.

The quest to eliminate racism and inequality will require bold and fearless leadership and action to generate support and confidence among the poor and excluded as well as bring about meaningful institutional change.

I hope the CEHR and its leader, Trevor Phillips can do some of this. The government has so far shown no inclination to do so. The CEHR will therefore need all the luck and political support it can get.

Lord Ouseley of Peckham Rye was chairman and chief executive of the Commission for Racial Equality between 1993 and 2000

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About this article

Passing on the baton...

This article was published on
the Guardian website
at 09.50 EDT on Wednesday 26 September 2007.
It was last modified at 09.50 EDT on Wednesday 10 October 2007.
It was first published at 09.50 EDT on Wednesday 10 October 2007.